About the 2013 Theme

Voluntary consensus standards play an essential role in promoting quality,
consistency, and dependability across a vast array of industries, providing
major benefits to the global economy and to the lives of people around the
world. This year’s U.S. Celebration of World Standards Day – Standards
for a World at Work and Play – focused on how standards
bring confidence to businesses, governments, and consumers, impacting
reliability from farm to table, manufacturer to retailer, and workplace to
home.

Standards facilitate technological innovations and foster evolving social and
environmental compliance practices that increase the health and safety of the
world and its citizens. They are the foundation upon which developing nations
build their economies and compete in the global market. Developed by
collaborative bodies that act as forums for the public and private sectors to
come together for a common good, standards evolve to meet the changing needs of
a world at work and play.